‘Florida’s air is coming from the Arctic near the North Pole’
Lake-effect snow blankets states around the Great Lakes
Winter has arrived to states around the Great Lakes, with lake-effect snow blanketing streets from New York to Wisconsin.
Millions of you are waking up to two questions this morning: Why is it so cold? And when will it warm up?
Here’s your answers, folks:
It’s just the vagaries of weather, and soon.
For more, read on:
Polar vortex?
The blast is courtesy of our old wintertime foe the polar vortex, said Weather Trader meteorologist Ryan Maue on X, while the source of the cold comes all the way from such miserably figid spots such as Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, and even the North Pole!
According to the meteorologists at MyRadar.com, “Florida’s air is coming from the Arctic near the North Pole. That’s why it’s about to get so cold! Temperatures 20-25 degrees below average!”
However, this particular outbreak is a bit out of season, as the fiercest cold snaps are typically reserved for mid-winter. For example, Miami’s all-time low temperature of 27 degrees was set on February 3, 1917, according to the National Weather Service.
How long will the cold snap last?
“If this cold is too soon for you, we have some good news: It won’t last that long,” said Weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman in an online forecast.
He said milder air will return to the nation’s mid-section Tuesday, Nov. 11. “And that milder air will spread through much of the South, then Midwest the rest of this week.”
However, the chilly air may be somewhat more stubborn to leave the Northeast, as another reinforcing cold front sweeps out of Canada, according to Weather.com.
Meteorologist Ben Noll agreed, noting on X that the Arctic blast will be short-lived: “It doesn’t mean that winter is arriving early. Milder air will return.”
Overall, AccuWeather long-range experts point out that temperatures are expected to continue to bounce back as the month goes on, “with waves of cold air on the docket for early December.”
Doyle Rice is a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writing about weather and climate.
